The Vernon Hytec Canadians beat the Vernon Five Star Awards Bombers 14-4 in Pee Wee A baseball action Wednesday night at Creekside Park.
Hytec coach Hayden Vardon credits the win on the dedication of the players at practice. Guest players Kalvin Blaeser and Nick Cherkowski from the former Midget AA C’s worked out with the players on Monday, getting advice on all the basics.
“Hitting for power and swinging at strikes is our new approach at the plate,” said Vardon. “Our bullpen was stellar tonight with Dylan McGee-Hatalcik taking the win and Nolan Smyth closing. There is nothing better than three-up-three-down baseball.”
Nolan Smyth went 3-for-3 with a double and three RBI while scoring twice. McGee-Hatalcik went 2-for-3 with a walk, one run and one ribbie, while Jakob Holliday provided two hits, one run and one RBI.
McGee-Hatalcik struck out a dozen batters and allowed three runs in 3 1/3 innings. Smyth mowed down four batters and gave up one run in 1 2/3 innings. The highlight of the game was Garrin Best’s outfield assist for the final out.
Ben Bradford scored twice for the Bombers, who got a solid showing from catcher Dylan Sailing. Connor Jones singled in Adam Hansen who had walked. Hunter Johnstone and Reilly Beer also rang up solid hits. James Helfrick, Logan Killingbeck and Jones scored the other Bomber runs.
In Mosquito play, the Hytec Red Sox bounced the RBC Black Sox 10-4 at Lakeview Park.
The Black Sox fired up the offence in the first inning when Darius Szwed lined a single. Everett Sidwell drew a walk, scoring one run and a sharply hit ball by Wyatt Cleverly drove in another.
The Red Sox answered with two in the bottom half of the first. The Black Sox responded with a deuce in the second on singles by Matthew Barber and Charlie McGinty and a two-RBI double by Swzed.
Hytec countered with two runs in the second and one more in the third. An RBI-double by Drew Christensen put Hytec in the lead for good. Christensen went 3-for-3. Everett Brown, Tarran Tepper and Isaac Brisco each drove in runs during a four-run fifth.
Tepper started on the hill for Hytec, going two-thirds of an inning, allowing two runs on two hits and striking out one. Vincent Sanfilippo took the win, lasting three innings, allowing no hits and no runs while striking out four.
Griffen Dolinski of the Black Sox allowed one hit and two runs while walking one. Wyatt Cleverly threw two solid innings, striking out six while giving up only three hits.